The TC-22 blaster rifle was held with both hands, and the trigger discharged a single bolt when depressed. The sights of the TC-22 were skewed slightly to one side—a common problem among TC-model blasters. Over time, the scope often lost its precise calibration, although that problem was easily fixed with some adjustments. The rifle had decent blasting power and a range of up to sixty-four meters, although each power pack only held enough energy for fifty shots before it had to be replaced. The rifle model used in the Galactic Civil War was black and had a blue firing chamber, and the scope was close to the wire stock.
TC-22 rifles were first manufactured sometime prior to the Battle of Phaseera, which took place in 1002 BBY. The TC-22 was the first rifle that was assigned to most soldiers in the Brotherhood of Darkness's Sith army, and it was reserved for new recruits and soldiers with lower ranks. Sergeant Dessel, a former cortosis miner from the planet Apatros, preferred to use a TC-22 when he fought as a member of the Gloom Walkers, a unit in the Brotherhood of Darkness.
An updated replica of the TC-22 blaster rifle was still in use by the time of the Galactic Civil War. The soldiers of both the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire used the updated version of the rifle by 1.5 ABY. The TC-22 could be bought from either an Imperial recruiter or Rebel recruiter as a reward for valiant performance on the battlefield.
The TC-22 blaster rifle first featured in the novel Darth Bane: Path of Destruction, released on September 26, 2006 and written by Drew Karpyshyn. It later appeared in the video game Star Wars Galaxies after it was added to the game in Game Update 15, released on January 26, 2010.
Game Update 15 introduced the Galactic Civil War update, which added player-versus-player and player-versus-environment invasions to the online game. The invasions take place once every two hours in the cities of Dearic, Keren, and Bestine. Reward tokens could be earned for completing certain tasks during the invasion's duration, and the tokens themselves could be taken to a recruiter—either Rebel or Imperial—and exchanged for various items, including the TC-22. As a purchasable weapon, the TC-22 is worth 1,000 tokens and can be turned into a schematic by the player, then taken to a trader and recreated into a more powerful version of the weapon.
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia